The Darktown Revue (1931)

4.3/10 18 min Comedy Music

Overview

With a series of long takes and frontal camera set-ups, Michaeux provides a record of several cabaret acts, using intertitles to separate the individual numbers. This quietly outrageous film begins with the high-toned Heywood Choir singing "Watermelon time" and concludes with Amon David playing a preacher using heavy blackface. Amon Davus was known as "the Back Biting Comedian, Par Excellence", and his sermon is one of Michaeux's many notable send-ups of the clergy.

Cast

Amon Davis

Donald Heywood

Sara Martin

Tim Moore

Andrew Tribble

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